Method and means for securing wooden handles



F. n. PLUMB. METHOD AND MEANS FOR SECURING WOODEN HANDLES.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 6. I92].

Patented Au 15,1922.

FAYETTE R. IBLUMB, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

lllIETI-IOD AND MEANS FOR SECURING WOODEN HANDLES.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 15, 1922- Application filed October 6, 1921. Serial No. 505,871.

lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention,such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

This invention relates to a method of and means for securing a wooden shaft in a socket and, more specifically tosecuring a wooden handle in the socket of a tool head. The tools to which I particularly contemplate applying my invention are tools of the impact type, such as hammers, mallets, sledges, hatchets, axes and the like, comprising a socketed head secured transversely to the end of a wooden shaft serving as a handle. 1

Objects of the invention, among others, are to facilitate securing the shaft or handle to the tool head or the like; to enable the shaft or handle to be quickly tightened in the socket should it become loose by reason of shrinkage of the wood after the tool'or other manufacture leaves the maker.

The said objects are achieved by the combination of elements and a method of assembling them more fully described hereinafter, illustrated in the drawings and defined in the appended claims. I c

In the drawings in, which like reference characters indicate like parts: I

Figure l is an end view of a claw hammer embodying my invention;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figures 3 and 41: are perspective views of cement coated wedges used to expand and secure a shaft or handle in the socket of a tool head; the cement coatings having been partly broken away to expose the wood;

Figure 5 is an elevation of a headless tapered screw adapted to tighten the shaft or handle in the socket to compensate for shrinkage.

In order to disclose my invention in the best form now known to me, I have illustrated and described it embodied in a carpenters claw hammer; but it will be understood that the principle of the invention is applicable to other tools and to other devices, and is not. to be limited otherwise than as definedin the appended claims.

As illustrated a wooden shaft orhandle 1 is inserted in a socket 2 suitably formed in a tool head 3, shown as the head of a claw,

The socket 2 inthis embodiment.

hammer. extends through the head 3 and said socket may taper inward from each end. The hammer head 3, as is usual in claw hammers, has a sleeve portion 4 projecting from the head in order to providea socket of considerable length to insure security of union between head and handle. The socket 2 within the sleeve 4 is tapered as shown at 5 from the end of the sleeve to a zone 6 substantially midway of the socket. From the zone 6 the socket flares to the other end at the outer face of the hammer head, ,as shown at 8.

as to fit the tapered part 5 of the socket 2 when the handle is fitted in said socket. From the inner zone 6 to the extremity 9 the handle may be of uniform size. In order to expand the originallyuniform-sized end within the flaring portion 80f the socket 2, the end of the handle maybe split, as by means of a chisel, and wedges, such "as 10 and 11 driven into the end of-the handle, thusexpanding it into firm contact with the fiaringpart 8 of the socket. When thus wedged in place the toolhead is rigidly and firmly secured upon the handle 1. I 1

The wedges 10 and 11 are preferably made of wood; in order to hold them in place and to facilitate the processv of manufacture, these wedges have a coating 12 of any suitableyadhesive lacquer, insoluble in water, but adapted to soften under heat. Certain resinous and asphaltic substances will serve the purpose; These wedges are made up in.

in liquid form, which is allowed to dry and harden upon them. When said wedges, coated with hardened adhesive, are driven into the end of the shaft or handle, the heat developed by friction softens the coating so that the wedges after being driven home are cemented in place and form with the end of the shaft a solid mass that fills the socket. If wood were not subject to shrinkage owing to the various atmospheric conditions to which tools and other objects are likely to be subjected, the wedges prepared and assembled as described would be sufiicient to hold the shaft firmly in the socket. Tools v The portion 7 of the handle 1 is tapered. so 3 always have their handles firmly fitted when they leave the factory. After tools have left the factory the handles sometimes shrink when the tools have been kept "for a considerable period in an unusually dry atmosphere. The slightest looseness ot a tool head on the handle renders the tool unfit for accurate use. In order to enable shrinkage thus occurring to be compensated for, a conical, headless wood screw is inserted in the end of the handle. By headless, I mean that there is no portion on the screw which can be distinguished as of different size and contour than the body of the screw immediately adjacent. In Figure 5 is shown a headless screw 13 of substantially uniform taper from the butt end i l to the point 15. A driving slot 16 is formed transversely of the butt end 14L, said slot being adapted to receive the blade of a screw driver. The screw may have a right hand thread 17 and a. gimlet point as is customary in wood screws. In order to prepare the shaft or handle for the reception of the tapered headless screw, a hole 18 is drilled from the end o'l the handle longitudinally thereof to a somewhat greater depth, say one quarter inch, than the length of the screw. This hole may be reamed to receive the screw which may then be driven in until the butt end 14 is flush with the end face 9 of the'handle. Preferably the two wedges l0 and 11 are so placed as to expand the end of the handle in two directions at angles to each other. One of the wedges 11 is, therefore, wider than the other wedge 10, and one edge of wedge 11 contacts with the side of wedge 10; and it is preferred that the screw be seated in such a position as to di vide the wedge 11 longitudinally, whereby pressure may be exerted by the screw tending to separate the divided portions of the wedge 11 edgewise and expand the end of the handle along the longer dimensions of the socket as shown in Figure l and also to exert expanding pressure on the handle in the direction of the shorter dimensions thereof.

In practice, should it be found that the head has become'loose upon the handle, a

one quarter or one half turn of the screw will tighten the handle in the socket. As a result of this tightening action the butt end 1% of the screw sinks slightly below the end surface 9 of the handle. Should at any time the handle become loose by further shrinkage this looseness may be taken up by a "further turn of the screw.

Having described my invention in such 'manner as to enable those skilled in the art to make and use the same, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is as follows: v

1. The method of tightening a wooden shaft in the socket of a tool heador the like which consists in driving into the end 01 the shaft within the socket, a wooden wedge having a dried and hardened coating of cement that softens when heated.

In a handle fastening, a flat sided wedge tapering from edge to butt having a dried and hardened coating of cement-that softens when heated covering the sides and edges thereof.

An instrument of the class described having a socket, a wooden shaft having an end littcd in said socket, a wooden wedge expanding said shaft in said socket, and a headless wood screw tapering substantially uniformly from butt to point threaded into said end longitudinally of the shaft, said wood screw entering the wedge longitudinally.

4-. An instrument oi": the class described having a socket, a wooden shaft having an end fitted in said socket, wooden wedges, disposed at angles to each other expanding said shaft in said socket, an edge of one of said wedges being in substantial contact with a side of another, and a headless wood screw, tapering substantially uniformly from butt to point, threaded into said end longitudinally of the shaft, said wood screw entering longitudinally that wedge the edge of which engages the side of the other.

In testimony whereoi l my signature.

FAYETTE R. PLUMB. 

